Canoodle: odds and ends

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" shows "canoodle" = "donkey" from
Somerset, with a reference in "Notes and Queries" dated 1879. Wright also
says "canoodle" is used "fig. of one who makes love foolishly or
'spooneys'". I could not find any other instances of "canoodle" = "donkey".

However, in Clive Upton, David Parry, J. D. A. Widdowson, "Survey of
English Dialects: The Dictionary and Grammar" (Routledge, 1994), p. 66,
there is this entry:

<<canuter* _n_ a DONKEY III.13.16. ... D _[SBM headword queried as
cornutor, but more probably formed on Canute, English king with reputation
for obstinacy]_>>

This is apparently represented by a single response from southern
Devonshire (according to the map in the associated dialect atlas). As I
understand it, somebody transcribed the word as "cornutor" and later
"canuter" was chosen as a better spelling. I couldn't find any other
instances of "canuter".

Surely this must be the same as "canoodle" for "donkey". It is commonly
thought that words for "donkey" are often originally given names, e.g.,
"jack[ass]", "jenny", "dick[y]", "neddy", possibly "moke" [from
"Margaret"], possibly "cuddy" [from "Cuthbert"], and possibly "donkey"
itself [from "Duncan" (apparently "donkey" earlier rhymed with "monkey")].
So maybe "canuter" is from "Knud"/"Canute".

[But if one is willing to hark back to King Canute, why not a little
farther: a southern word might date from the Roman days and "canuter" might
be from Latin "canutus" = "[the] gray [one]" or so. Similarly "moke" from
"maccus". Just my idle notions; perhaps some of the experts can explode
them at a glance.]

As a possible irrelevancy, note that "cornutor" means "one who cornutes";
to cornute someone is to put horns on him, i.e., to cuckold him. Which
brings to mind another possible connection: isn't a canoodler often at
least a suspected cornutor?

Here is a 'nonsense' use of "canoodle":

"The King of Canoodle-Dum", by W. S. Gilbert (1869, I think):

<<The story of FREDERICK GOWLER,
A mariner of the sea,
Who quitted his ship, the HOWLER,
A-sailing in Caribbee.
For many a day he wandered,
Till he met in a state of rum
CALAMITY POP VON PEPPERMINT DROP,
The King of Canoodle-Dum.

....>>

The whole ballad can be read at (e.g.)

http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/bab_ballads/canoodle_dum.txt

[The citizens of Canoodle-Dum are "Canoodlers".]

Now of course Gilbert is a big name, and I suppose he may have been big
enough back then to popularize "canoodle" to the extent that uncommon
similar colloquialisms might have been altered slightly to match it: for
example, perhaps (*)"canute" = "donkey" didn't really match "canoodle" so
well before. And conceivably the spelling "canoodle" was favored on the
basis of this poem (earlier citations have "conoodle"). "Canoodle-Dum"
would seem to be "noodledom" modified to fit the meter, with or without
prior knowledge of "conoodle", which is recorded from 1859.

Maybe the Somerset "canoodle" shown by Wright represents conflation of
originally distinct "canute(r)" = "donkey" with the verb "canoodle" =
"smooch". On the other hand it's not impossible that earlier "canoodle" =
"donkey"/"fool" was verbed, parallel with "spoon[ey]" or with "fool
[around]" in the sense of "make love" ... this would be in line with the
tentative etymology in MW3.

But still, I sure like "canoodle" = "knudeln"!

-- Doug Wilson